At Tech Oversight Project, executive director is Sacha Haworth, ex-American Bridge 21st Century, and deputy executive director-communications director is Kyle Morse, ex-Trump War Room ... Disney promotes Trisha Husson to head-strategy, business operations and finance, Disney General Entertainment; Eric Marcotte adds oversight of strategy and business operations team as senior vice president.
Though ATSC “is not directly involved in patent licensing, we are pleased to hear the announcement of the ATSC 3.0 patent pool” by MPEG LA (see 2201200058), emailed ATSC President Madeleine Noland Friday. “Recognizing that patent pools often add licensors over time, we are delighted to see this group of thirteen licensors working together to simplify and accelerate ATSC 3.0 adoption into an expanding line-up of NextGenTV products.”
Thirteen licensors populate the one-stop patent pool for ATSC 3.0 technologies that MPEG LA launched Thursday, as was expected recently after about three and a half years of development (see 2112100004).
ATSC 3.0's backers need to focus on attracting consumers, advertisers and consumer tech OEMs to the new technology, said executives from E.W. Scripps, Sinclair, Nexstar, and BitPath in a virtual panel Thursday. “A lot of these OEMs need to understand in a much deeper way what’s in it for them,” said Kerry Oslund, Scripps vice president-strategy and business development. If broadcasters don’t ensure that ATSC 3.0 early adopters see “a tangible difference,” 3.0 “will be 3DTV all over again.”
Consumer "acceptance" of ATSC 3.0 is “rapid,” said Pearl TV representatives, including Managing Director Anne Schelle, on a Jan. 14 call with an aide to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington about the progress in deploying the new standard, according to a filing posted Wednesday in docket 16-142. ATSC 3.0 services are in “over 46 markets” and 35 more will launch in 2022, said Pearl: "In less than two years, nearly 3 million NextGen TV receivers have been sold, and it is projected that 4.5 million sets will be sold this year as more consumers upgrade to smart TVs. This rapid acceptance of the technology is one of the fastest penetration rates for a new consumer technology."
A survey by an ATSC 3.0 industry group shows consumer demand for the technology's enhanced emergency information capabilities, said Sinclair and subsidiary One Media, which sponsored the research. The survey, done by the NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance, showed “almost two-thirds of American consumers” want geotargeted alerts. Over half want the ability to curate which alerts are received and the ability to opt in to a stream of emergency information. “Almost two thirds of American consumers said they would pay an extra $5” for a mobile phone with enhanced emergency information and “almost half said they would pay an extra $10,” the release said.
The Evoca-branded pay-TV service using ATSC 3.0 entered its fourth market Thursday when it lit up Idaho's KVUI and KPIF, both Pocatello, emailed a spokesperson. Parent company Edge Networks launched Evoca in Boise in August 2020 (see 2008210021). It’s now also available in Phoenix and Colorado Springs.
Five TV stations in Washington, D.C., began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0, with Howard University’s noncommercial station WHUT-TV hosting the signals of Sinclair’s WJLA-TV, NBCUniversal’s WRC-TV, Fox’s WTTG, and Tegna’s WUSA. “It’s gonna take time to infiltrate the market” with 3.0 receivers, said WHUT General Manager Sean Plater in an interview. “Step one was to get stations on the air." Viewers of WHUT’s 1.0 signal won’t see a difference in their feed, Plater said. “That’s one of the first things we checked.” NAB worked with Howard to create an ATSC 3.0 “learning lab” and certificate program at the school, said NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny in a video presentation Thursday. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks appeared in the video, praising NAB for creating educational opportunities for Howard University students with the new standard. Matheny highlighted one student, Sulaiman Bastien, who created an 3.0 app in connection with the program. Plater said one reason broadcasters emphasized getting 3.0 online in Washington is to make the tech easy for lawmakers to access. “We want to make sure they can see it up close and personal.” Outgoing NAB CEO Gordon Smith said 3.0 will be broadcasting in 35 markets by year's end.
ATSC 3.0 continued to “gain momentum” in 2021, with dozens of U.S. cities launching NextGenTV services, blogged ATSC President Madeleine Noland Monday. She estimated nearly 200 3.0 channels are available in more than 40 cities, supported by 70 compliant TV models from LG, Samsung and Sony: “Broadcasters are taking full advantage of this momentum, offering services with better video quality, enhanced dialog control with Voice+, interactive applications and more, while promoting new services.”
Comments on FCC-proposed changes to ATSC 3.0 multicast rules (see 2111050049) are due Feb. 11 in docket 16-142, replies March 14, said a public notice Monday. Broadcast industry officials said the changes to the multicast hosting rules would make it easier for the transition, but MVPD groups said the changes could have implications for ownership and attribution rules (see 2105280035).